Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 14

(ii.) _Translation._-- You cannot be in doubt about the princ.i.p.al subject and predicate. +Felix+ is the only word outside the subordinate clause from +qui ... avari+. The sense, too, of these lines is clear, so you may translate at once; but you must take special care to use dignified and appropriate language:--

_Happy the man who has availed to know the causes of things, and so trampled under foot all fears and fate's relentless decree, and the roar of insatiate Acheron._

+II.+

+Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes, Panaque, Silvanumque senem, Nymphasque sorores!+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+agrestes+ = _of the country_; cf. +ager+ (?????), +agrarius+, _agrarian_; +peragro+ (+per + ager+), _travel over_. Perhaps to be traced to the same root as +ag-o+ = _drive_, +ager+ and ????? being so named +a pecore agendo+ (cf. Germ. +trift+ = _pasturage_, +treiben+ = _drive_).

+Silvanum+ = _Silva.n.u.s_ = Latin G.o.d of fields and woods (+silva+), _sylvan_.

(ii.) _Translation._--This sentence closely resembles in form Sentence I, +Ille Fortunatus+ being the princ.i.p.al subject and predicate.

_He too is blest who knows the G.o.ds of the country, Pan, and old Silva.n.u.s, and the sisterhood of the Nymphs._

+III.+

+Illum non populi fasces, non purpura regum Flexit, et infidos agitans discordia fratres; Aut coniurato descendens Dacus ab Histro, Non res Romanae, perituraque regna;+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+fasces+ = _fasces_, i.e. _honours_; +populi+, i.e. _conferred by the people_.

+fascis+ = a _bundle_, espec. of wood.

+fasces+ = _the lictors' rods_ (_rods_ + _axe_ in certain cases) carried before the highest magistrates, as an emblem of authority.

+purpura+, _i.e._ the _purple_ robe worn by kings and magistrates.

Cf. [16]'+Purpura Pompeium summi velabit honoris.+'

OV. _Ex Ponto_ IV. iv. 25.

[Footnote 16: 'The purple (the insignia) of the highest office shall clothe Pompeius.']

+agitans+ = _driving_, i.e. _moving_, _impelling_.

+discordia+ = _discord_. Notice force of +dis-+ = separation, negation; cf. +dis-crimen+, +dis-par+.

+coniurato+ = _united by oath_, _sworn confederate_.

+Dacus+, the Dacians, akin to the Thracians, N. of Danube, conquered by Trajan. Cf. modern _Roumanians_.

+Histro+ = the Lower Danube.

(ii.) _Translation._--You will see there is only one princ.i.p.al verb, +flexit+ (or +flexerunt+), with several princ.i.p.al subjects, +fasces+, +purpura+, +discordia+, +res Romanae+, +perituraque regna+, and no subordinate clauses. You may therefore translate at once:--

(a) _Him fasces of the people or purple of kings sway not, not maddening discord among treacherous brethren, nor the Dacians swarming down from the leagued Danube, not the Roman State, or realms destined to decay;_

OR

(b) _He is not (1) moved by honours that the people confer, or the purple of empire, or civil feuds, that make (2) brothers swerve from brothers' duty; or the Dacian coming down from the Hister, his sworn (2) ally; no, nor by the great Roman State and the death-throes of subject kingdoms._

N.B.--(b) is superior to (a) in--

(1) the use of Pa.s.sive for Active;

(2) the predicative use of +agitans+, +infidos+, +coniurato+.

+IV.+

+neque ille Aut doluit miserans inopem, aut invidit habenti.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--You will probably know the meanings of the words in this sentence. Thus the meaning of--

+doluit+ is suggested by +dolor+.

+miserans+ +miser+. Cf. _miser-able_.

+inopem+ +in + ops+. Cf. _op-ulent_.

+invidit+ +invidia+. Cf. _envy_.

(ii.) _Translation._--You have here two princ.i.p.al verbs, +doluit+, +invidit+, joined by +aut+, and a princ.i.p.al subject +ille+.

Notice that +inopem+ must be the object of the participle +miserans+, and that +habenti+ is used as a noun.

_He never felt the pang of pity for the poor, or of envy for the rich._

Copy of a rendering shown up by a boy of fifteen in a recent scholars.h.i.+p examination:--

'Happy is the man who _is able_ to discern the reason of things, and _controls_ under his feet all changes and inexorable destiny, and the _groaning_ of greedy Acheron! |I| Blessed also is he who knows the rustic G.o.ds, Pan and old Silva.n.u.s, and those sisters, the nymphs! |II| He is not moved by _the people's axes_, nor by the regal purple, nor by discord that rouses brothers to _distrust_ each other. He is not moved by _Dacus_, coming down from the _sacred_ Danube, nor by _the affairs_ of Rome, and the realms about to perish. |III| He neither _grieves for nor pities the helpless_, nor does he envy the rich.' |IV|

The above version is fair, but notice the following points:--

_Sentence I._--

_is able ... and controls_. The connection in thought is not shown: 'He is happy because he _knows_ and ? fears not.'

_groaning_--_i.e._ +gemitum+; +strepitum+ = _roar_, _din_.

_Sentence III._--

_by the people's axes_. This suggests quite a wrong idea; contrast the version, 'by the honours that the people confer.'

_sacred_. This is quite wrong. +con-iurato+ = _allied by oath_.

_the affairs of Rome_. A very weak, and inadequate rendering.

_Sentence IV._--